There are times when you face problems in expressing your opinions or work you do. It is rather considered bad publicity & against the company-client privilege. Same is the case here and but I might be speaking the silent cries of many photographers belonging from Peshawar in specific and Pakistan in general. Here goes few of the rants of a DESI photographer:
1. Privacy Issues (Lack of Exposure on Social Media):
First thing’s first; Privacy issues! Unlike people of Islamabad or Lahore or other major cities who generously let photographers post the photos on page; Peshawaris, nayy, not so much. This is the worst thing for an Artist. How? Well, how good is a painter who can not display his creation. This is one of the problems & probably the only reason creative artists of Peshawar fall behind in exposure than rest of the competitors of other cities. Yeah! The “culture and norms” don’t allow us to post photos publicly but a photographers deserves the due credit and recognition not only by word of mouth but through social media as well. So this for me personally and for many other photographers of Peshawar is a major barrier in promoting our work.
2)Being a Photographer itself:
Okay, at some point of your career you must have heard; ‘beta! Photography k elawa bhi kuch kartay ho, job ya business’. and you are like speechless. This point leads to the second major issue, which is recognizing Photography as a profession.
“Just like Doctors, Engineers, Captains, or any other business owners; we work to earn just like other professionals then why the discrimination.”
Photographers are artists and they tend to be a little sensitive by nature, mostly being introverts; Even a few harsh words can discourage them and ruin their career.
One of the other problems that fall in under the title is taking a camera in public for street Photography and that’s because of obvious reason i.e. Pakistani Awaam! Internationally, Street photography is best way to improve your aesthetic skills & build confidence as a Photographer but locally it is very difficult to go public with a DSLR which makes it hard to learn smoothly.
3)Photography friendly places (Photoshoot Locations):
Well, Peshawar is a little city with almost half of it being under army (or many of those beautiful places) with restriction to photographing under Cantt boundries. More or less all the places in Peshawar either require permission to photograph or charge for wedding photoshoots. A great trend in Private spaces too,
“Earning from Lending a place for photoshoot has become a little side business in handful of hotels & restaurants in vicinity of Peshawar.”
So unless you or your relative has a nicely decorated house or a garden. You need to work a tad harder to arrange a place for a shoot or may be spend some bucks too. (Read: Top Photoshoot Locations in Peshawar!)
Tanzeel Khan